ATSU names graduation speaker

Wednesday

May 8, 2013 at 11:20 AMMay 8, 2013 at 11:21 AM

Dr. J.D. Polk, of Department of Homeland Security, will speak at May 18 ceremony

A former graduate and officer for the Department of Homeland Security will lead the 177th graduating class at A.T. Still University May 18 with 176 students set to receive their doctorate of osteopathic medicine degrees.

J.D. Polk, DO, MS, MMM, CPE, FACEOP and 1993 graduate from ATSU will lead his alma mater as the commencement speaker. Polk serves as principal deputy assistant secretary for health affairs and deputy chief medical officer for the Department of Homeland Security.

The ceremony is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. (with advance tickets required) and doors open at 9 a.m. A military commissioning ceremony will precede commencement at 8 a.m. in Kirk Memorial Building, south of Baldwin Hall on the campus of Truman State University.

The commencement ceremony will take place in Baldwin Hall Auditorium, on the campus of Truman State.

The school’s 177th graduating class is represented by 108 men and 68 women who hail from 30 states and seven countries, including graduates from Novinger and Kirksville.

Polk has also served as the deputy chief medical officer and chief of space medicine for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Johnson Space Center and as assistant professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Emergency Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch. He is the former state emergency medical services director for the State of Ohio and former chief of Metro Life Flight in Cleveland, Ohio.